Merchant’s arrest was the result of a “three-week-long proactive undercover investigation to identify people who approach children online in an effort to meet them for sex,” said Sherry Lang, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The FBI’s Cyber Child Exploitation Task Force, which investigates such crimes proactively, in Augusta was assisted by the GBI, Richmond County Sheriff’s Office and Columbia County Sheriff’s Office.

Lang said Merchant was apprehended at an undisclosed Columbia County location where he believed he was meeting a 14-year-old girl for sex.

He was being held in the Columbia County Detention Center on Thursday on a $100,100 bond, according to jail records.